Just 24 hours before he arrives in Europe to take part in next week’s NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, US President Joe Biden has given the go-ahead for the US to send cluster munitions to Ukraine.

In other words, the United States appears ready to send weapons to Ukraine, the production, use, and transfer of which are prohibited under the Dublin Convention of 2008 (Convention on Cluster Munitions – CCM), signed by more than 100 countries.

It is noted that the USA, Ukraine, and Russia are not parties to this Treaty, while there are seven other NATO member countries, in addition to the USA, that have also not ratified the said Treaty.

This move by the Biden administration, if implemented, would circumvent a US law that prohibits the production, use or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1%. Russian cluster munitions reportedly have a 40% failure rate. This means that a large number remain on the ground unexploded and threaten the civilian population.

The Pentagon estimates that its own cluster bombs have a failure rate of less than 3%. Cluster munitions explode in the air above a target, releasing dozens or even hundreds of smaller submunitions.

Such munitions, capable of dispersing small bombs around targets, have already been used in the fields of Ukraine by both Russian and Ukrainian forces. These are munitions that have proven to be highly effective in the field, especially against soldiers in the trenches.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has long been asking for reinforcements of such weapons, which are also used by the Russian side, but Ukrainian needs are currently heightened by a combination of factors: Kiev continues its counteroffensive aimed at recovering territory, but the conventional ammunition available to the Ukrainian forces is gradually running out.

The UN and human rights groups are calling on all sides in the Ukrainian conflict to stop using such weapons, stressing that they continue to pose risks even after conflicts end, as they are left behind in fields and explode later, sometimes in the hands of unsuspecting civilians. 

US officials, however, say that they will work with Kiev to monitor these arms shipments and clean up unexploded ordnance.

This was not an easy decision for Washington and it is not very popular with many Democrats and human rights advocates. The debate has been ongoing for at least six months.

Yet, critics of the US administration argue that the move could create rifts in NATO ranks and disagreements between allies to the benefit of Russia.

The immediate effect will be to topple much of the “moral ground” Washington sits on in this war, as Russia’s numerous alleged war crimes are well documented, but the move is likely to prompt accusations of US hypocrisy.

With information from: Washington Post, Gzero, BBC

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